Photo by Tereasa Nims. Annette Crossman designed this section of the bay window at Total Health Foods, 2954 Biddle Ave., which she and her twin sister, Janette Crossman bought in November. Annette said she used the bear and the home feeling to make it feel cozy and incite a warm holiday feeling. She said she also likes her sister’s presents in her section of the window.

By TEREASA NIMSSunday Times Newspapers

WYANDOTTE – One of the lures for Total Heath Foods owners to buy the Gail’s Office Supply Complex was the original bay windows and decorating them for the Christmas season.

“Those windows. We definitely wanted the old downtown feel,” said Annette Crossman, who co-owns the 2948 Biddle Ave. store with her twin sister, Janette Crossman, Kathleen Gunther and Alice Huang. They opened the store last month.

“We wanted to make them a focal point of the building,” she said of the windows.

Annette Crossman and her sister picked a section to decorate. Annette’s side had the bear.

“It was more like a house. Comfortable,” she said. “I love the homey, cozy feeling.”

She said the window decorations help breathe new life into the building that stood vacant for 23 years before Total Health Foods moved in.

Another incentive to make sure they went all out with the windows is because the city was investing so much money in Christmas lights.

Rebecca Haney of Detroit enjoys the windows and said she made several trips to look at them.

“I saw them while I was meeting friends, and they just captured my attention,” Haney said. “I grew up visiting New York and ogling over the windows.”

Haney said she hasn’t gone back in years, but the windows offer her a comfort, almost a nostalgia.

Children passing by stopped to adore the windows.

“Look, nanna, look, look,” shouted 7-year-old Mathew Brooks of Trenton, who was in the area with his grandmother and cousins for some holiday shopping.

Annette Crossman said the Christmas season, for her is about family and taking time to appreciate what she has been given.

“The chance to buy this building is a blessing, it truly is,” Crossman said.

She said knowing that they have incited warm feelings for those who see the windows has been a blessing, too.